Naya Punjab: CM-elect vows to be soldier for change

Says he understands all issues faced by poor people, vows to strive for alleviation of problems

The man nominated by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for the Punjab Chief Minister slot, Usman Ahmad Khan Buzdar, said he is a soldier for his leadership and will strive to alleviate the problems faced of the masses.

Buzdar reached Punjab Assembly, along with elected MPAs and supporters, to submit his nomination papers for the CM slot. The assembly will vote in its chief minister on Sunday (today) 11:00 am. Former minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman appeared on behalf of PML-N CM candidate Mian Hamza Shehbaz Sharif and submitted his nomination papers at the Punjab Assembly secretariat.

On the occasion, Buzdar said there were a lot of issues faced by poor people which needed resolving.

He said the party would work along the lines of Prime Minster Imran Khan’s vision to improve the lives of financially-disadvantaged people and to put the country on the right track.

The CM-elect vowed to achieve the goals of his party leader and help create a naya Pakistan.

To a query about a new southern Punjab province, he urged the need to exercise patience and wait.

On the other hand, PML-N’s Mian Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman said newly-elected prime minister Imran Khan would now have to provide 10,000,000 jobs and 5,000,000 homes to the masses.

Who is the CM-elect?

The faces of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers in Taunsa and tribal areas of Dera Ghazi Khan are beaming with joy after Prime Minister Imran Khan nominated tribal leader Sardar Usman Khan Buzdar for the slot of Punjab chief minister.

As the news broke on Friday night, PTI workers including children, women and youngsters and came onto the streets and distributed sweets. Celebrating participants performed cultural Balochi dances to drum beats and shouted slogans of “naya Pakistan”.

This is the first time in the history of Punjab that a chief ministerial candidate has been nominated from a less-developed area of South Punjab where people lack even basic facilities such as health, education and clean drinking water.

Sardar Usman Ahmad Khan Buzdar belongs to Taunsa tehsil of District Dera Ghazi Khan. Buzdar got elected as an MPA from PP-286 Taunsa on the ticket of PTI in the recent general elections. He clinched 27,027 votes on July 25. Buzdar, 49, received his early education in his ancestral tribal area and after matriculation, he completed his FSC and BSC examination from BISE Multan.

He completed his master’s degree in Political Science from Bahauddin Zakariya University’s Department of Political Science and later on passed the LLB examination from Multan. During General Musharraf’s rule, he was twice elected as nazim of the tribal area Dera Ghazi Khan district.

In 2013, Buzdar, on the ticket of PML-N, contested polls for an MPA seat, but was defeated by Khwaja Nizamul Mahmood of Pakistan Peoples Party. After defeat in the elections, he joined Janoobi Punjab Sooba Mahaz. He also remained the member of Taunsa Bar Council. The mother tongues of the PTI’s nominated CM is Seraiki and Balochi, however, he is also fluent in English and Punjabi.

He is the elder son of a tribal chief and former MPA Sardar Fateh Mohammad Khan. Sardar Fateh Mohammad Khan became the member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) during the era of Ziaul Haq and in 1985 contested polls as an independent candidate to become a member of Punjab Assembly.

Sardar Fateh Mohammad Khan was elected as an MPA in 2002 and 2008 on the ticket of PML-Q. He remained a close aide to then chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

While talking to the journalists at his residence, Fateh Mohammad Khan said he came to know from the media that his son was nominated for the CM slot. He termed the nomination as a wise and historical decision taken by Imran Khan.

Usman Buzdar vowed to would play an important role for the development and prosperity of Punjab, particularly the southern part. He said tribal areas of Dera Ghazi Khan lack basic facilities and he would perform his responsibility by serving the masses according to the mandate of PTI.

On the other hand, NAB has suspended all the pending cases of illegal hiring and corruption against Usman Buzdar after completing its investigations. In 2008, cases were registered against Usman Buzdar, alleging that he, in his capacity as a nazim, granted political favours for jobs and looted money from the public exchequer. However, NAB has cleared him after investigations.

Meanwhile, his political opponents alleged that a case was registered against Usman Buzdar for planning the murder of six people. Police stated that in 1998, six people were killed in firing during election time. Later on, Usman Buzdar and his father paid blood money of Rs7.5 million rupees to the families of the deceased.

District President PTI Ijaz Janjua said that PTI leadership has taken this step to end the friction over the separate province. He said Imran Khan would fulfill his promise of a separate province for the people of South Punjab.

(With additional input from APP.)

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2018.